Co-founder of the United Farm Workers Association, Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement.
On Monday, Oct. 16, Huerta was a guest at La Academia Dolores Huerta in Mesilla Park, a charter middle school. She had the students roused and responding in no time, chanting union support and considering women’s rights to decision making.
The students had prepared mariachi music and folklorico dancing of songs that had been written about Huerta. The 93-year-old activist enjoyed every moment and stood patiently to speak with and have photos with every student who wanted to meet her.
Born April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta was the second of three children of Alicia and Juan Fernandez, a farm worker and miner who became a state legislator in 1938.
